Reality TV starlets are trying to extend their 15 minutes
The reality stars of the popular MTV show “The Hills” are using their new found TV fame as a launching pad to start fresh projects and make an even bigger name for themselves.
Lauren Conrad, the show’s narrator and star, has launched her own clothing line.
After starring on MTV’s “Laguna Beach,” Conrad went to fashion school in San Diego, but decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue her career and study fashion at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.
MTV decided to make a spin-off show called “The Hills,” where they followed Conrad as she moved to Los Angeles and worked as an intern at Teen Vogue. Her personal life was also filmed, displaying the drama of friends, work, heartbreaks and relationships.
Conrad used this show as a stepping-stone in the fashion industry, and now she has her own clothing line, The Lauren Conrad Collection.
On the clothing line’s Web site, her winter 2007 and spring 2008 collections are available for viewing and purchase.
Her collection consists of dresses, pants, shirts and some accessories that range in price from a scarf for $25 to a dress for $170.
Sophie Sunderland, a junior business major, said she believes that Conrad deserves all of the credit she is getting because she has been studying to be a fashion designer.
“I think Lauren’s good because she went to fashion school and studied designing, so she deserves to have her own line,” Sunderland said.
Conrad even named two of her designs after her fellow “Hills” castmates, her best friend and roommate Audrina, and her co-worker at Teen Vogue, Whitney.
The design for Audrina is called the “Audrina dress”, which is described on the Web site as, “it’s like the namesake, sexy and beautiful.”
Whitney’s dress is simple and orange, and is also called the “Whitney dress.”
According to the store locator on the Web site, Conrad’s collection is being sold in many different stores in 19 states.
Conrad is also the new spokeswoman for Mark by Avon, a makeup company. She is the new face of the brand, and endorses the product on its Web site.
There is a place for shoppers to click and view Conrad’s favorite makeup products from the brand.
According to Usmagazine.com, the Teen Vogue experience is over for “The Hills” stars Lauren Conrad and Whitney Port. The editor-in-chief of the magazine, Amy Astley, told Us that “(She) just thought it was time for them to try something new.”
Despite this change, many say Conrad’s clothing line is a success.
Heidi Montag, Conrad’s ex-best friend and fellow cast member of “The Hills,” has also used her popularity from the show to propel her career forward.
Montag has recently released her new single, “Higher,” which is now available on iTunes.
Montag and her boyfriend, the show’s bad-guy, Spencer Pratt, recently decided to make a music video for “Higher.”
One CU student said she believes that Montag’s singing is not real, and she is famous for no good reason.
“I think it’s ridiculous that people now can get famous for doing nothing,” said Callie Carver, a junior environmental studies major. “Heidi started singing after becoming well known from ‘The Hills.’ She was never actually a singer.”
The video has been ridiculed by many because Pratt filmed and Montag filmed it in an unprofessional style on the beach. Montag has gotten a lot of negative comments about the video, but according to Usmagazine.com, her single debuted at number 7 on the iTunes Top Ten Pop chart.
Montag told Usmagazine.com about the video shoot, saying that she and her Pratt were, “at the beach and, literally, Spencer had his camera and a boom box in the trunk, we did it in one take, maybe two, and it took us 20 minutes to film, and cost us zero dollars.”
Andrew Raskin, a sophomore ecology and evolutionary biology major, said he does not think that these women have earned all the attention they are getting.
“I feel like the fame is not deserved,” Raskin said. “Lauren didn’t deserve to intern at Vogue – how did she get such an incredible internship without a degree? Heidi doesn’t deserve anything. We need to re-examine what we watch on TV, because why can a girl just have guy trouble on TV and makes lots of money?”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Melanie Cohn at Melanie.Cohn@colorado.edu.
